Johnson Controls and Saft Advanced Power Solutions have teamed up to open the world's first lithium-ion battery plant—for cars. The plant will be in Nersac, France and will churn out 5,000 batteries per year for clients such as GM, Chrysler and Mercedes-Benz.

Johnson Controls is a supplier of automotive batteries and Saft is a big manufacturer of nickel-cad and lithium-ion batteries, so together they are the perfect couple to produce lithium-ion batteries for electrics and hybrids. Will the creation of this plant increase the production speed or lower costs of electrics and hybrids? Not likely, but at least someone out there is trying to get the ball rolling. [Financial Times via Autopia]